A social presence let's us express ourselves and provides a return for
doing it right! It doesn't get better than that!

You're right, it's not about the money! It's about reach. It's
about leverage. It's about engagement. It's about interaction. It's
about the power of each of our own personal networks and how they will
be embedded into our lives.

Although you may have only seen a buck or two from sales, it still
doesn't undermine the premise that it was your online presence that
moved a “bragging” amount of books in a week. I believe strongly
that our online social presence will be at the core of our lives and
without a good, well developed, well manicured presence folks will be
left behind.

The weak tie networks many of us have developed in our off-line lives
will no longer suffice in allowing us to compete in society. An
online presence will be required, and a good one will be the price to
play.

Your story is a very tangible and measurable way to convey this idea
and that ones online presence IS a very real and tangible asset that
must be invested in and if done right will provide a healthy return.

Chris may have been an unknown 5 yrs. ago, but he's far from average. He puts a lot of passion and effort into what he does & he's generous with what he knows. Sitting around crying for his ROI didn't get him there. Chris is proof of the saying, “Do what you love and the money will follow.” Good to remember!

When I started “journaling” in 1998, it was just for the sake of putting my ideas out there and hoping someone cared. It took me 8 years to get my first 100 steady readers. That's changed a bit, but that's not really a money number. That's a human engagement number.

My marketing budget is zero dollars, but Julien Smith and I hit both the New York Times list and the Wall Street Journal list because we'd banked up a lot of love.

Remember, authors only make a buck or two per book. The publishing company gets most of that revenue, and the bookseller, so I made about $800 or so for that transaction. Frankly, I could get more than that for adsense. So, why did I write a book? Because it's a powerful social queue that suggests I know something.

Books sell. My blog sells. Everything I do is lead generation to larger, longer lead cycle sales.

Or, maybe I do it because I love community. (Real answer: both).

Great question to ask. And the point I love the most in all that you wrote was that I started from nowhere and nothing. That's the big takeaway. I'm not unique. I'm just someone who got it done.

Thanks for the post.